On Mackinac Island, feel free to BYOB – Bring Your Own Bicycle. But if, like me, you didn't think to pack your own wheels, there are plenty of places to rent some.

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich.–On Mackinac Island, feel free to BYOB – Bring Your Own Bicycle. But if, like me, you didn't think to pack your own wheels, there are plenty of places to rent some.

It's a breezy 15-minute ferry ride from St. Ignace or Mackinaw City (about an hour's drive from Sault Ste. Marie) to this Lake Huron island with its colourful history as a sacred aboriginal gathering place, fur trading centre and historic battleground. Once you disembark at Haldimand Harbour, there are three ways to get around: on foot, on bike or in a horse-drawn carriage, as motorized vehicles have been prohibited on Mackinac for more than a century. (Inline skates are okay too, but not in the downtown area.) If you've ever wondered where to find a surrey with the fringe on top, look no farther.

Main St. is as bustling with bicycles and carriages crowding the street. It's advisable to keep an eye out for manure piles dropped by the four-legged transportation.

There's no doubt that Main St., with its quaint Victorian buildings, is as touristy as it gets, with T-shirt and souvenir shops galore, an extraordinary number of fudge shops and eateries ranging from pub grub to fine dining.

But the real joy of Mackinac lies beyond the commercial frontier. My partner and I rent bikes at the Mackinac Island Bike Shop – "cruisers" built more for comfort than speed with wide handlebars, cushy seats and generous baskets to carry your camera and water bottles. The price – $7 an hour – seems reasonable for an afternoon adventure.

We weave around pedestrians, carriages and other cyclists and head west on Lake Shore Dr., leaving the activity of crowded Main St. behind. The circular route's also known as M-185, the only U.S. state highway that doesn't allow cars.

There are several routes to choose from, but we opt to take the 13-kilometre trek around the perimeter of the turtle-shaped island. In short order, we're pedalling past cute houses with lush, colourful gardens. The grassy shoreline with its boardwalk could pass for Nantucket.

It's pleasant and easy travelling – the road is in great condition and a yellow line keeps the two-way bicycle traffic in order. There are bikes of every description – racing bikes, mountain bikes, tandem bikes for people who like to pedal in pairs, bicycles hauling covered carts with sleeping children inside.

The sun is bright, the breeze refreshing and the path winds along under a canopy of cedar and birch, past beautiful nautical-style homes new and old, with the water always just a stone's toss away.

We also pass the Grand Hotel, which was built in 1887 and boasts the world's largest porch, at 182 metres. The Grand has been the setting for two movies — This Time for Keeps (1947) starring Esther Williams and Somewhere in Time (1980) with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve.

About halfway along the route is a popular pit stop, where cyclists break to wander on the rocky beach or buy refreshments at the Cannonball snack bar.

As we trek onward, the water is so brilliantly blue you could swear you're wheeling along a Caribbean coastline, though I suspect Huron's frigid waters would bring one crashing back to reality if you dipped a toe in. There are several places to stop for photos – including the beachside boulders, which are great for posing on.

There are few houses now, as about 80 per cent of the island is preserved as a state park. One of the must-do stops is at the foot of Arch Rock, where you park your wheels in a rustic wooden bike rack. The climb up is not for vertigo sufferers or anyone not up for a good cardio workout. The wooden steps are crude and slanted, not to mention steep, but the view is worth the work. Arch Rock – shaped like its name suggests – is a natural limestone formation created by glaciers and its location 45 metres above the ground makes for spectacular views.

The climb down is much less work and once we're back on the bikes, it's an easy cruise back to the populated part of the island. As we pass an outdoor wedding on the lawn of a hotel, a sign warns inline skaters that they can go no farther.

The bike traffic thickens as we swing by the harbour and pass by Fort Mackinac, constructed by the British during the American Revolution.

And as we pass by the visitors' centre, a marker designates Mile 0.0, meaning the end of the route.

So we thread through the oncoming cyclists, dodge the cleanup crews shovelling up manure, and reluctantly return to the bike rental place.

It's goodbye to the comfy cruisers and back to the world of combustion engines.

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